Kidney lesions in copper-deficient rats

Rats fed a diet deficient in copper were found, in comparison to control rats, to have lesions in the cortex, medulla and papilla of the kidney. Within the cortex, the lesions consisted of mild atrophy of the convoluted tubules, thickening of their basement membranes and fragmentation of the reticulin framework. In the medulla and papilla, selected zones of the loop of Henle were disorganized, with their epithelia appearing atrophied and their basement membranes fragmented and irregular. The epithelial cells of the collecting tubules were atrophied and vacuolated and their basement membranes thickened. Throughout the kidney, blood vessels were distented and engorged with large numbers of erythrocytes. The most likely explanation for these lesions is vascular underperfusion which could be due to a primary effect of copper deficiency on the kidney or could be secondary to the other cardiovascular lesions that are known to occur in copper deficiency.